Madhya Pradesh: Debt-Ridden Labourer Finds Diamond Worth Rs 80 lakh (representational image: Pixabay)

Raju Gond says his family’s life has changed forever. A daily wage labourer from Madhya Pradesh, Gond found the glittering glass from the state’s famous Panna mines last week. The unearthed 19.22-carat diamond is worth around Rs. 80 lakh.

Gond usually earns around Rs 300 per day by taking several works such as working in fields or diamond mines or as driving tractors for wealthier farmers.

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Sometimes, the 40-year-old and his younger brother Rakesh are paid Rs 800 a day to dig for gold in a 690-square-foot plot of government land. It was while undertaking such work on last Wednesday, they stumbled upon the diamond.

“It shone spectacularly; I knew it was a diamond right then!,” CNN reports as Gond is saying.

Both brothers took the diamond to the local Panna Diamond Office to get it evaluated.

Anupam Singh, the official diamond examiner who had it weighed told CNN: “This is a white diamond of 19.22 carat.” It is expected to fetch around Rs 80 lakh, he added.

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The unearthing of diamond come as a life-saver for Gond at a time when he is struggling to meet his both ends meet. His family comprises his parents, wife, seven children, and the families of his younger brother and sister.

“The first thing I’ll do is pay back a debt of Rs 5 lakh. Then we will invest in all children getting educated, building homes, buy some land and maybe a tractor too,” CNN quotes as he is saying.